Charting life's circuitous path

Tag Archives: Pie

I love pie crust, too, but between that and crumble, the crumble has the rumble to win it all the way!

Blueberries are on sale at my area grocery stores and I couldn’t resist buying a few pints. We ate a lot of dessert on our vacation and while it was all delicious (Shari’s Creamy Pecan Pie was voted our table’s most yummy pie and it was all MINE!), I didn’t really go for many fruity desserts.

Sure, there was a wonderful strawberry frosted, vanilla cake with rhubarb compote cupcake from Cupcake Royale. I was also told that the double chocolate vegan cupcake was very good and the salted caramel and chocolate cheesecake cupcakes went down a hit as well (and gobbled up just as quickly!). We definitely lucked out with having the shop a minute down the road from our rental home!

So many wonderful cupcakes with just the right amount of frosting and a deliciously dense cake – almost like a dense angelfood in texture. Even though there are a lot of chocolate cupcakes in this box, these were all that were on offer. Not your place to go if you want a wide selection of chocolate cupcakes.

There was also the surprisingly delicious white chocolate cheesecake with berry topping from Collin’s Pub in Pioneer Square whose thick crust won my heart and vote.

A wonderfully understated cheesecake at a pub that didn’t have a dessert menu and only two desserts on offer. We’re glad we asked our server! Seattle doesn’t seem to really do dessert menus as much as the midwest, so definitely ask!

But what we overly indulged in were the cinnamon laden pastries. Like the chocolate chip cream cheese topped cinnamon roll from the Pike Place Bakery. The extra large, two palm sized buns were dolloped generously with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with chocolate chips and curls. We also ate a Bavarian cream horn and an apple fritter from this bakery, but they paled next to the deliciousness of this bun. (In fact, I’d suggest skipping their other desserts since they all tasted like ones you can get at other places like your local grocery – not bad, but nothing fancy.) If we ever go back to the market and brave the crowds again, we’re hitting them up for more of these buns!

The moist bun wasn’t overwhelmed by the topping at all – perfection!

A lot of great looking desserts, but they didn’t all live up to their looks. Be selective here and go for the buns.

Our sticky fingers were well licked by the end of the vacation and it was all worth it! Every cinnamon bun, apple danish, coffee oreo ice cream cone bit of it! 🙂

But I was seriously craving my OWN, home baked dessert and one with fruit. So, when these bright blueberries went on sale, I knew that I wanted to make a pie. We had a wonderful piece of cream pecan pie at Shari’s Cafe and Pie, but while it was decadent and definitely worth indulging in, it wasn’t quite the same as a solid, crunchy, fruity crumble pie.

Shari’s Cream Pecan Pie – very delicious, although more cream and less pecan than I would have preferred. There are 4 layers in that pie – pecan pie filling, a dense vanilla cream, chocolate (I think) and the cream topping. Whew!

I love me some double crusted pies, sure, but I have a big soft spot for crumble pies. There’s something irresistible about that crunchy, oat topping on a fruit pie that brings out the flavor of the fruit without weighing it down like a crust can. I also like really thick crumble, so I went for big crumbs with a LOT of spice – but not too much spice that it dominated the berries.

This is no ordinary blueberry crumble pie. This is the BEST blueberry pie I have ever made. The fresh berries maintain their plump shape, the crumb crumbles on your tongue and the flavors are deep and developed. Go on, try it out! Trust me, this is no runny pie. 😉

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Ingredients

1 pie crust either homemade or pre-made. I used a Trader Joe’s pre-made crust with great success.

Crumble

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (or 2 tbsp brown sugar splenda – which I used and it worked beautifully)

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/3 cup unsalted butter (use more if needed, but that’s all I needed to make my crumbs)

Filling

5 cups blueberries (2 pints)

1 tsp lemon juice (or Real Lemon crystals)

1-2 tsp dried orange peel

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup packed brown sugar (or, again, 2 tbsp brown sugar splenda)

3 tbsp flour + 1 tbsp potato or corn starch

Directions

To make the crumble: Mix all dry ingredeints in a medium bowl. Using a grater, grate butter into bowl and mix with fingers until big crumbs form. Set aside.

To make the filling: Rinse berries, pick any stems and set aside.

Mix dry filling ingredients in a plastic bag and reserve 1 tbsp for later. Sprinkle rest of mixture over rinsed berries until coated.

Press crust into 9 inch pie pan and sprinkle reserved mixture over crust. Fill with coated berries (it might mound a bit, but that’s okay!). Top with crumble and press down gently (don’t squish the berries but press to keep the crumble in place). Place in preheated 375 F oven and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack and serve at room temperature.

Leftover pie won’t go all runny on you and will hold its shape and its crumb the next day, if need be. 🙂